26 December 2010

EFIT in Montana

A few weeks ago, I went to a completely foreign place: Montana. I had never seen snow or mountains like that up close before; it was a completely surreal and dreamlike weekend for me. The inverted-V rooftops of the ski lodges and pine trees strung with silver lights and caked with snow made everything feel like a gingerbread neighborhood.

One of the days I was there, I did an EFIT for Julie. Those of you who have been around for a while know I do these every now and then. A combination of no-Internet (none) and a shoddy memory made my email to her about doing a joint EFIT float into the ether rather than getting to her. So here are my photos. I was worried about them all being only of snow, but I managed to get a little variety in there.

10.30am - I was convinced me to go snowmobiling. The moment we got out of the car at the rental place, 3 dogs walked over to us, curious. This one had the most piercing blue eyes I had ever seen. Like water in the Blue Grotto.

11.33am - On my snowmobile. I tried to pretend I was Beatrix Kiddo the entire time so I wouldn't be paralyzed by terror. The narrow trail up the mountain through forests had a probably 60° drop on one side.

12.23pm - In a meadow thing on a mountain - our first destination. Completely silencing.

1.09pm - In a rented snowsuit and helmet. Those guys know how to dress for the weather, yeesh. I wasn't cold the entire afternoon, and it was about 6°F that day (colder than I've ever exprienced).

2.04pm - Taking a break.

3.30pm - Back at square one, 50 miles later. A note about snowmobiling - I had no idea what a snowmobile even was until I looked it up on Wikipedia (most of my life was spent in tropical places). If you've never been before and you want to try it, there is a section of the article called "Accidents and Safety" - don't read it. I made that mistake and was petrified for the first half of the trip. But then by the end I was having a blast. So much so that I almost flew off the thing from going too fast over a hill on the way back. Another note: You will not be able to move the next day. From my triceps all the way to my sides and quads, this thing used just about every muscle to steer.

4.07pm - Another tip for anyone who may go snowmobiling for the first time: Eat beforehand. We were all so starving by this point that we had dinner at 4 o'clock on the afternoon. This was at one of the half dozen restaurants in the area - a motorcycle-themed place called Choppers. I had a burger, onion rings and Guinness. Perfect.

9.00pm - Here is where I was one minute too late to get an 8pm photo. Rats. This is Mister Toky's computer; he was playing this amazing computer game that was like Doom but took place in an underwater city with zombie-like guys walking everywhere.

9.32pm - On our way to have a snack (still hungry) and drink. Most of the little trees in the resort were lit up and covered with snow like this.

10.50pm - If anybody has any idea what this is, let me know. I looked up at my table and was met with this dude; pretty disarming.

The first half of those pictures were taken with my phone, since taking a camera on a snowmobile is pretty useless. The second half were with the Nikon. Quite a different EFIT than the ones I'm used to doing. This was a pretty amazing trip; I'd go back. And maybe do the same thing again ^^